Maine Woods Pellets - Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

i got 3 tons of mpw pellets back in july delivered for 214 a ton...
my harman burns them without a problem and the heat is ok...
no clinkers at all and low fines...
the first year burning..
last week is was cold so i went out to buy 10 bags of oakies...
what a difference it was..very high flame great heat but 6.50 a bag a lot of money......
sibs has oakies so next year i'll probably get 2 tons oakies 1 ton mwp..

I am sure the Okies are better then the MWP based on what I read here. What I struggle with is what St Earl refered to.
MWP = $4.28 a bag
Okies = $6.50 a bag (think they were about $6.00 thru SIB)
Is there really that much more heat in them to justify the cost difference. I don't know, just saying as the MWP work well for me.

Duke said:

I am sure the Okies are better then the MWP based on what I read here. What I struggle with is what St Earl refered to.
MWP = $4.28 a bag
Okies = $6.50 a bag (think they were about $6.00 thru SIB)
Is there really that much more heat in them to justify the cost difference. I don't know, just saying as the MWP work well for me.

Click to expand...

If you ask me, there is. Like I posted earlier, my stove has feed rates 1-9. The Okies on 1 are hotter than the MWP on 9. On 1, a bag lasts forever. On 9, I burn through a bag in 12-18 hours.

That being the case, and if you do the math, they're actually cheaper. Less ash too, so less cleaning...time is money.

Being new to this I can't argue. I'll have to try some Okies when I can get my hands on them. I do not have to change settings on my Harman as it is adjusted automactically no matter what I throw in there. Also haven't tried a lot of different pellets to be able to judge the difference.

I just had a nice conversation with the folks at South Shore Wood Pellet in Holbrook, MA. They carry a great selection including Maine Woods, they burn what they sell and while they give you their opinion they allow you to buy what you want. They are very high on Logik-e for a hardwood, I had purchased 15 bags of the Logik-e and 15 bags of Barefoot last month. Today I went back and bought another ton of the Barefoot's (am I becoming a pig?) even though I have to store about 20 bags in the backseat of my truck. They truly wanted to know what I liked about the Barefoot's over the Logik-e's. FWIW they consider Maine Woods their "cheap" hardwood pellet.

i'm definitely curious. and i have to give consideration to those who have burned both.
but it's going to talk a whole lot of convincing to get me to drop $80 a ton more on anything when i am warm and saving money already.
but yeah. i can't say i have any basis for comparison.

the oak is in the mail too.
i have a feeling that will swing things further towards the econo pellet route. for me anyway.

I can understand St Earl's point of view about price increase verses heat output, but there is also the consideration of less cleaning.
When I burn MWP or Maine Woods I need to clean my stove approximately every three days, when I burn Okies I can go at least a week before cleaning.
I think it just one of those times that you need to burn them to find out for yourself.

At this time of the year all pellets seem to be high save for MWP. My Okies were purchased in the summer/fall 2010 as I remember the price was $260 to $280 a ton delivered.
Luckily I have enough Okies for the season especially, when I substitute the MWP on warm days. I would not want to pay $300 a ton for Okies. Hoping to score some good prices in the Spring.
Really hoping the new Mass. bagging plant will result in lower Okies prices.

I did make another stop in Lowe's tonight, and I am unable to give you the name of the wood pellets in the green and clear bag as they were all gone. In there place were Nature's Own for just under $5 per bag.

I tried a couple of bags of the MWP with a cabin on the front yesterday. I have to say these are one of the worst pellets for heat that I have tried! The temp in the house dropped 10 degrees over night!! yipes! never again.